Manny Lawson's crumpled knee ligament comes as a minor godsend to Mike Nolan, if you believe he needed a media/fan base distraction from his pathological offensive conservatism.

If, on the other hand, you believe that he needs Lawson's surging skill and knowledge in Pittsburgh this Sunday a lot more than a play-calling image rebuild, the injury just plain stinks. Suddenly, one of the team's strengths (linebackers) is a little weaker, and one of its weaknesses (passing) is about to become more visible - maybe even vital.

In other words, by cruel necessity, Nolan may soon be done with the "He's his father's son, damn it" portion of his tenure. Starting this Sunday, we suspect strongly that he is about to demonstrate his dormant but still passionate love affair with the passing game.

Nolan spent much of Monday's day-after trying to establish that he isn't the 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-FieldTurf-kitty-litter addict he has been portrayed as by those vicious media hyenas. He was relatively charming and good-natured about it, to be sure, but he doesn't want to fight 49er history by being known as the most pass-leery head coach since his pops.

Lawson's injury, though, shifts the paradigm. Given his play through the first two games, and even the tail end of last season, the second-year linebacker has become, with Patrick Willis, the new spinal cord of the 49er defense. But once Lawson went down, that defense became more suspect, and the offense in turn took on new responsibilities - namely, scoring more than 17 points to win games.

And that necessarily means that you, the sniveling, caviling fan who wants footballs in the air and receivers running free with arms a'wave, are very likely to get what you want, albeit the hard way.

Not that the 49ers were likely to maintain their Frank Gore/Joe Nedney strategic plan anyway. The Steelers are running silent, out of the eyes of those who are looking at the Colts and Patriots in the AFC, but they are shaping up as the sternest test the 49ers will face this season.

Sunday's game was going to be Alex D. Smith's coming-out party by necessity, the one that either won him Nolan's barely bridled confidence or set him back to mid-'06 levels. Smith was going to have to make the most of Darrell Jackson, Arnaz Battle, Vernon Davis and running backs in the flat, or be punished by the Steelers' traditionally harsh defense.

Now, with Lawson's absence making it tougher for the defense to hold Ben Roethlisberger, Willie Parker, Hines Ward, et. al., the 49ers will need more points just to stay even. That is, unless this is actually a great defense just aching for a stage to show itself.

Of course, that would have been more likely with Lawson than without him. Neither Hannibal Navies, Brandon Moore nor Parys Haralson casts as large, or as blurry, a shadow as Lawson, whose career arc started in much the way that Jerry Rice's did 20 years ago - a slow start, followed by signs of brilliance. Make no mistake, Lawson is not likely to be the Rice of the linebacker's art (Willis has a step up there, if truth be told), but his absence can only work toward the benefit of the Steelers, who have routed Cleveland and Buffalo and are ranked third in scoring and sixth in yards.

Is this overthinking? Not by much. Nobody in his or her right mind could have seen a 49ers team scoring 18 points per game and making the playoffs. Oh, it's been done, most recently by the '05 Bears, who averaged barely 16 a game (but allowed only 12), but it's not a recommended method. At some point, Smith is going to have to expand his game, and Nolan is going to have to let him.

By necessity, this is almost surely going to be that game. It may not end as 49ers fans wish, and they may spend Monday morning wishing that Nolan were actually more devoted to the running game, but that's how fans roll. It's expected of them. They tend to be more familiar with what they don't like than what they do. Right now they like 2-0, but they don't like ranking 31st in passing. Come Sunday evening, there'll probably be something else they don't like. Hey, maybe it'll be Nolan's tie.

But that's often the sign of a good coach - you want to keep 'em guessing, whether it's play-calling or looking snappy while play-calling.